Database used by the companies to organize, store, and retrieve large amounts of data easily. Online transaction processing (OLTP) is supported by traditional databases which includes insertions, deletions, updates and also supports information query requirements.
A data warehouse helps in collecting and managing of data which helps management in decision making. It preforms functions in three stages – staging, integration and access. It helps in easy retrieval and analysis of data. It provides clean, transformed and cataloged data.
The main difference between database and the data warehouse is that the database is designed to record the data and the data warehouse is designed to respond to analysis questions that are critical for the business. Application databases are On Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems where every transaction has to be recorded. Where as data warehouse is a database that is designed for facilitating querying and analysis. Separation from the application database also ensures that the business intelligence solution is scalable, better documented and managed and can answer questions more efficiently and frequently. Creation of a DW leads to a direct increase in quality of analysis as the table structures are simpler, standardized and de normalized.